Whenever India achieves something big, it is a matter of pride. But, it becomes more praiseworthy when such achievement is made by Indian woman. This time, an Indian woman fighter pilot has created the history. Avani Chaturvedi has become the first Indian woman pilot to fly solo that too MiG-21 Bison. Avani flew a MiG-21 bison in her first training solo sortie at Jamnagar, Gujarat. In the Russian-origin jet, she completed the half-an-hour long solo flight.
She was inducted in Indian Air Force fighter squadron on June 18, 2016. The previous Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar inducted them. She is from the first batch of three women officers commissioned as fighter pilots. It was trio of Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh out of which Avani became the first to successfully solo sortie of fighter plane.
In October 2015, Indian Government decided to open the fighter stream for women. But these are still not available to women in the Army and the Navy.
Trainings done by Avani Chaturvedi
Avani Chaturvedi who is posted to No. 23 Squadron (Panthers) had undergone several training since June 2016. She completed her basic flying training on a Pilatus aircraft at the Air Force Academy then underwent six months of training on Kiran trainer. After this, a year-long training stint on Hawk advanced trainer jets at Bidar Air Base. She had undertaken flights in twin-seater training jets.
Who is Avani Chaturvedi?
She is a girl from Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh. She had done her schooling from a small town in Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh. From Rajasthan’s Banasthali University, she had done her Bachelors in Technology in 2014. Her brother was her inspiration behind joining Air Force. So, she joined the flying club of college. She cleared the Indian Air Force exam. At Hyderabad Air Force Academy, she completed her training.
